Adventist Voices by Spectrum: The Journal of the Adventist Forum

Hailing from Eastern Canada, with time spent as a chaplain in Western Canada. Ben now works as the youth pastor at La Sierra University Church. By being connected to and inspired by, his Ghanaian roots, he creates safe spaces for cultural minorities.  “The reality of humanity, that we can be part of an organization, Christianity or Adventism, that is Christ centered and yet does not prioritize peo...

Pastor Iki currently serves as the first lead pastor of colour for the La Sierra University Church. With his Tongan background & stories of being an undocumented immigrant, he boldly expresses his full self so others may likewise do so. “I don’t know that it’s said out loud, but white church, white academics is seen as very high. Sometimes, ethnic churches are seen as secondary or not quite as, ri...

Alaska Region Director of Ethics for Providence Health & Services, Mark F. Carr, MDiv, PhD, studied with James Childress, PhD, one of the world’s premier “principles-based” bioethicists at the University of Virginia. He mastered competencies in Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Philosophical, and Bio, ethics, focusing his dissertation on moral decision making methods in clinical contexts. In addition to...

Manuel is the founding pastor of Kalēo Adventist Church, a Spanglish congregation in the Glendale, California. He has a degree in Business Administration and MTS from La Sierra University, and is working on his DMin in Urban Ministry at Fuller Seminary. We discuss why being a Spanglish—mixing languages from the platform was a needed correction, how thinking theologically about “familia” helps grow...

Janice De-Whyte reflects on God’s priorities by looking at the failure of the religious community in Bethel. The conversation is based on her chapter in the book, A House on Fire: How Adventist Faith Responds to Race and Racism, which was edited by Nathan Brown and Maury Jackson. Nathan Brown and Lisa Clark Diller join Janice to explore these themes together. Janice De-Whyte, PhD, is Associate Pro...

In the novel, Stillwater, by noted Canadian writer, Darcie Friesen Hossack, sixteen-year-old Lizzy is trapped, caught between her passion for science and the teachings of her Seventh-day Adventist father and Mennonite mother. In this conversation with her, profound Adventist author Trudy Morgan-Cole, joins me as we explore food, religion, Canadian regional lit, and what it’s like to create Adventi...

Drawing from his research for the first scholarly biography of this Adventist pioneer, historian Brian Strayer details the rise, decline, and mythology of Hiram Edson. He didn’t have visions, but “presentments.” Also, despite being the man who saw the heavenly sanctuary on October 23, 1844, Edson focused his interests elsewhere. He even quit going to church for a while late in life. Strayer ground...

I interview Larry Geraty, president emeritus of La Sierra University, about the passing this week of Ron Numbers, historian of science, and Fritz Guy, professor of theology and philosophy. Larry reflects on each man’s legacy and shares anecdotes about what drove Numbers out of Adventism and what kept Fritz committed to the denomination. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bob Smietana has been senior editor of Christianity Today, religion writer at The Tennessean, correspondent for Religion News Service, and contributor to OnFaith, USA TODAY, and The Washington Post. In his conversation with Spectrum, he discusses his interactions with Adventism and what we could be going better. We also discuss the current landscape of Christianity that he researched for his new b...

Michael Campbell discusses the connections between Adventism, fundamentalism, and race. He earned his PhD in Adventist history from Andrews University and currently serves  at the North American Division as the Director of Archives, Statistics, and Research. He recently published the book, 1922: The Rise of Adventist Fundamentalism by Pacific Press. He is the founding editor of the forthcoming Oxf...

I talk with best selling author Hugh Howey about the Silo TV series based on his novel series Wool. We discuss philosophy, apocalypse, and ways that stories can explore the human condition. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosts Nathan Brown and Lisa Diller talk with Angela H Li, the Assistant Director of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries (Pacific Region) for the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. She holds a PhD in Practical Theology and leads the Women in Chaplaincy Project. She is married with two young-adult children. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kayle de Waal taught New Testament studies at Avondale University College in Australia for many years. Before that de Waal served as a minister in the Kwazulu Natal Free State Conference in South Africa and the North New Zealand Conference where he earned his PhD from the University of Auckland. In 2021, he was named Director of Education and the Disciple Making Coordinator for the Trans-European...

Hosts Nathan Brown and Lisa Clark Diller talk with Maury Jackson about his contribution to the A House on Fire book. Jackson earned his DMin from Claremont School of Theology. He is Associate Professorof Practical Theology at the HMS Richards Divinity School at La Sierra University. He studies the intersection between theology in the public square and Christian witness, participation, appreciation...

Ted Wilson’s nephew, noted writer Matthew Vollmer, discusses his 2023 book, All of Us Together in the End. In it he explores loss, family, and his own connections to Adventism. The chapter, “A Peculiar People” from Vollmer’s book, appears in the latest issue of the journal and on the website. A review of his work by Sari Fordham is also on the website.  Vollmer holds a BA in English from the Unive...

Along with host Nathan Brown, guest Yi-Shen Ma discusses his chapter, "The Beast and the Matrix of Power" in A House on Fire: How Adventist Faith Responds to Race and Racism (2022). Yi Shen Ma earned his PhD from Claremont School of Theology and is an assistant professor of Religion and Ethical Studies at Loma Linda University. Ma is the co-director of the Center for Christian Bioethics and focuse...

Guest Matthew Korpman talks with hosts Nathan Brown and Claudia Allen about his chapter in A House on Fire, “Preaching a Black Christ: Doing Black theology with Ellen White.”  Korpman has a Master of Arts in Religion (M.A.R. in Second Temple Judaism) at Yale Divinity School and is an adjunct professor of religion at La Sierra University. He is working on a PhD program (focused in New Testament) at...

Claudia Allen serves as the Community Outreach Supervisor for the Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity in Columbia, MD. After earning her BA in English and her minor in Leadership in 2013 from Andrews Iniversity, Claudia went on to Georgetown University where she subsequently graduated with her Masters in English in 2015. In addition to contributing a chapter to this book, she was the Onl...

A graduate of La Sierra University, Matthew E. Burdette is a theologian and an editor at Convergent Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. He holds a PhD in theology from the University of Aberdeen, having researched the theology of Robert W. Jenson and James H. Cone. He talks with book editors Maury Jackson and Nathan Brown about his contribution to the book.  See omnystudio.com/listener for...

In a collaboration with Spectrum and Adventist Peace Radio, Maury Jackson, DMin, Nathan Brown, and Lisa Clark Diller, PhD, launch a new series about Adventists and racism based on the book, A House on Fire: How Adventist Faith Responds to Race and Racism. Maury Jackson and Nathan Brown edited the book, which brings together a number of writers to analyze these critical themes. We are also excited...

Guest host Jeremy Gray talks with the team conducting research on ex-Adventists. They explore the survey process and preliminary results. Connected to North Carolina-based Elon University, the sociologists and psychologists share their findings on the experience of leaving as well as the perspective of those who no longer believe, but remain connected to Adventism for other reasons.  https://blogs...

I talk with Academy Award nominated filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi about his new documentary on Pope Francis. It chronicles the first decade of the pontiff's travels in 53 countries as he represents his values on issues such as poverty, migration, environment, solidarity, and war. We discuss the definition of the contemporary prophetic voice and how the film explores how words and physicality convey sp...

Concluding a 5-part series with Don Casebolt on his book Father Miller's Daughter, we discuss Ellen White's statements about the papacy and Casebolt presents evidence for White's dependence on discredited historians for her statements that the Pope changed the Christian day of worship to Sunday. Casebolt also critiques Samuel Bacchiocchi's contributions to this belief. We conclude by exploring Whi...

Alex Aamodt shares insights from his week of watching the National Labor Relations Board hearing on the unionization efforts at Loma Linda University Health. He talks about the role played by representatives from the General Conference (David Trim and Bill Knott) who were sworn in to explain institutional structure and Adventist policy on unions rooted in Ellen White's writings. Drawing on the pro...

Don McAdams, PhD, discusses his legendary embargoed paper documenting Ellen White’s literary and narrative dependence on Protestant historians. After 50 years it has been published as part of a book titled Ellen White and the Historians: A Neglected Problem and a Forgotten Answer (2022). McAdams discusses how he discovered this issue in the 1970s, how the Ellen White Estate reacted, and why it is...